Okazu Top Yuri Manga of 2019

December 29th, 2019

Annually, I say to you that this is the easiest of the lists to write. In previous years this was completely true. This year however, we hit a tipping point with Yuri manga: No sooner do I discover a series’ existence, than it’s scooped up for license, sometimes before I have a chance to read it in Japanese. Last year I called it an embarrassment of riches. This year, I’m calling it too much to reasonably list! ^_^

As a result of the absolutely massive amounts of Yuri manga being put out in Japanese and English, this list begins with groups of works, rather than individual titles. When I mention a title that is currently available in Japanese and English, I’m using the English language title. ^_^ As always, please feel free to chime in with your favorites in the comments!

 

Yuri Anthologies
White Lilies, Whenever Our Eyes Meet (from Yen Pess,) Yuritora Jump (ユリトラジャンプ), Syrup (to be released in 2020 by Seven Seas,) Éclair (out from Yen Press,) Yuri + Kanojo (百合+カノジョ), there have been – and are – so very many of these anthologies this year! I’ve written about their importance in the history of Yuri manga, and I’m genuinely thrilled that they are experiencing a resurgence in this new age of Yuri.

Anthologies provide a home for established creators to publish their original work, and a place for new, up-and-coming creators to experience publishing with a company. Fans get to see glimpses of new concepts, new art, new ideas and find new artists to care about. Almost all of my favorite artists were (and often still are) avid anthology contributors. I unabashedly love anthologies, with my endless hope for really good short stories.

As a result of this new wave, Yuri anthologies make this year’s list!

 

Shakaijin Yuri
Stories about life after high school, where love between adult women can(!) exist. Nikurashii Hodo Aishiteru (to-be-released by Yen Press as I Hate You So Much, I Love You), Still Sick (out from Tokyopop,) BariKyari to Shinsou (バリキャリと新卒), Yuri Life (out from Yen,) Fuzoroi no Renri (不揃いの連理), Tsukiatte Agetemo Iikana (to-be-released by Viz Media as How Do We Relationship?) and so many more that I have read and reviewed in the past year, tell stories that until recently could not have been told. Lesbians are still few and far between but we sometimes even get a rare glimpse of one in these adult life tales. ^_^

A decade ago, Yuri was firmly embedded in school life stories, and we were still being informed that girls wear bloomers (they didn’t) and were definitely being married off after graduation (they weren’t) and were never going to be able to see each other again (they could…and there are phones). A person becoming a Yuri fan today would have a chance to see relationships between adult women functioning in the real world in a way we could never have imagined. Western companies are on board with this, bringing out more and more of the adult life Yuri manga. That’s pretty damned awesome.

 

Comic Yuri Hime/ Galette

Manga magazines have such an important position in manga culture. For most creators, seeing their work serialized is pretty much the epitome of where a title can go. And for Yuri manga, it provides the closest thing to normalization that the industry has. Where anime tends to favor the lowest common denominators (or lower, depending on how uncommon a fetish might actually be,) the constant, slow, repeated application of seeing women together as couples in manga can change the world.

For that reason, I want to once again call out the two Yuri manga magazines that exist right now. I don’t like everything in them, but for their efforts in normalizing Yuri (and, I will project a bit,) relationships between women, monthly Comic Yuri Hime (コミック百合姫) and quarterly Galette (ガレット) hold a special place in my heart.

 

Now we’re going to take a step away from the general towards specific series that, in my honest opinion, really stood out this year and did something important.

 

Goodbye Dystopia
It was easy to overlook Hisona’s 3-volume manga series from Comic Yuri Hime, Goodbye Dystopia (グッバイ・ディストピア). It’s not flashy, there was no sex, no histrionics, no drama. Instead, it opened up a whole new field for Yuri creators…one that we hadn’t seen before; two women traveling not to get somewhere, but to leave something behind. We took the time to see old and decrepit things, and most of that time was spent in silence. I would have read a dozen more volumes of that, a Yuri story in which nothing at all was important. I was able to enjoy the feeling of wandering in an almost-empty post-apocalyptic landscape set in the middle of the modern world.

As we head into what is very likely to be the twilight of the human species, we can remember that everything comes to an end and still look forward to tomorrow.

 

Bloom Into You
I had a lot of reservations about Bloom Into You from the beginning. I’m still not quite sure why it became as popular as it did. Perhaps a mix of zeitgeist and TV animation, but more probably because of the marketing powerhouse Kadokawa/ASCII Mediaworks. No joke – if you want your series to be popular, get Kadokawa to market it. It can be purest distilled crap and they’ll polish it up and sell it for luxe prices. ^_^

The main love story was nice enough, but where this series shone, where it gleams like a beacon of frickin’ hope is in its treatment of Saeki Sayaka, a serious-minded young lesbian who meets two adult women in a relationship and finds herself. I delighted in every moment we spent with Sayaka, with her time talking to Miyako about her true self and getting to know her even better in the light novels.

I’m not exaggerating when I tell you that this series made this year’s list because of Sayaka. ^_^

 

My Solo Exchange Diary
I very much hope one day soon to write an article about how creator Nagata Kabi absolutely threw the doors wide open for graphic medicine in Japan. It’s not that comic essays were unheard of, but before Nagata-sensei’s brutal self-evaluation and honest autobiographical essays about the mental and physical constraints of her existence, Josei manga artists frequently entertained readers with comic essays about life as a mother or living with cats. Nagata-sensei’s work was vastly different. Casting herself as a one-woman show on a stage of her own making, she touched the hearts of millions of people worldwide, a Raina Telgemeier of Japanese mental health, covering depression, eating disorder (and alcohol-induced pancreatitis in her newest book.) In years to come, it is my belief that we will see Nagata-sensei listed as a genuine pioneer whose work changed lives and the manga industry, much as we see the Magnificent 49ers now.

It’s not an easy read, but if I taught a course on manga, My Solo Exchange Diary would be a fixture on the curriculum.

 

Kase-san and Yamada
I’ve said it a thousand times, lesbian don’t just disappear after high school. I say this because until recently, they kind of did. ^_^; From the beginning, the Kase-san series was never groundbreaking. It trod over well-worn paths, but it stopped a little more often to notice the flowers that lined those paths. In Volume 6 released this year, Kase-san and Yamada took their first step off that path onto new territory.

When Kase-san and Yamada left high school, readers might have assumed that the series would wrap up. Instead they moved to the big city to go to college and we went along with them to see how they handled a new environment and new challenges. It’s a pleasure to spend time with these women and a pleasure to see where their experiences will take them as they enter the adult world.

Yamada and Kase-san are no strangers to this list, having made it on several times since their debut in 2011. We welcome them back once again for this year.

You’ll have noticed that my primary motivation for inclusion this year, as it has been for many years is stories with a sense of reality; stories of couples who exist in a semblance of the world as you and I might hope to experience it. With that in mind, I give you the Okazu Top 3 Yuri manga of 2019.

 

Hayama-sensei to Terano-sensei ha Tsukiatteiru
Hayama Asuka and Terano Saki are teachers at a school who have, to their surprise, fallen in love. Everyone knows they are going out and everyone, from students to administration think they could not be more adorable if they tried. This is the major handwave of this series and I, for one, think it wholly acceptable. Instead of dealing with bullying by colleagues or angry parents, we get to enjoy Saki and Asuka loving their time with one another.

Hayama-sensei to Terano-sensei ha Tsukiatteiru (羽山先生と寺野先生は付き合っている) is an adult story that includes sex, but is not porn. It focuses on the the sheer joy these two women find in one another. Yes, it’s a fantasy, but it’s a fantasy I wholeheartedly endorse. This manga makes me smile. Every time. Next year you’ll be able to enjoy it as Our Teachers Are Dating! from Seven Seas.

 

I’ve never hidden my desire to see more overtly lesbian themes in my Yuri. This year, we were able to enjoy manga series that were explicitly about queer people, by queer creators, that told various stories of different gender and sexual minorities. My top two series this year are effectively tied for the position because they both are by us, and tell our stories.

 

Our Dreams at Dusk Shimanami Tasogare
2019 was the year we were able to read a LGBTQ manga that pulled no punches. Yuhki Kamatani’s breathtakingly beautiful and moving Our Dreams at Dusk Shimanami Tasogare is a love letter to Shimanami and a supportive hand being held out to LGBTQ youth at the same time. Each character’s story is unique and individual, there is no pretense to telling all queer stories ever. Every character is shown as three-dimensional, working on understanding themselves and their place in a world that won’t make a place for them.

It ends with a wedding ceremony for the lesbian characters; a symbol of change and acceptance.  The first time my wife and I had a ceremony, we never expected to be able to marry legally. And here we are with that right. Saki and Haruko’s wedding might not be legal, but their families being there for them is an important step forward. This is not “Yuri” but it is one of the most overtly queer manga I have ever seen. Like a symbolic wedding, I honestly think that is worth celebrating. It’s a step forward. I’ll hope that this holds the door open to more overtly queer stories, more stories of lesbian couples who don’t face “death or marriage” as the only possible outcomes. And maybe, just maybe, assist in changing the way people think, an important bit of groundwork for a new legal landscape for queer couples in Japan.

 

In the middle of the many Yuri tropes that exist, there is one trope that is so very common in western literature and yet is almost completely missing in Yuri – the coming out narrative. There is a series that I have believed since the very beginning would be the series to address this. I was not wrong. This series is my top Yuri manga pick of the year.


Itoshi Koishi
Hina, a senior in high school is going out with Yayoi, an older woman. Yayoi is very aware of the age difference and is waiting for Hina to move beyond school into adult life. They are good for each other, and take care of each other and their friends are supportive. Yayoi is a lesbian and has friends who are, as well.  Hina has friends who adore her and whom she adores, and she has slowly and surely been moving towards telling them the one thing she’s been keeping from them. My Christmas present arrived with the January edition of Comic Yuri Hime in the form of Itoshi Koishi‘s protagonist Hina, coming out to her friends and her friends responding with love and acceptance. Hina takes on a few old lingering stereotypes of gay couples (left over from Japanese TV shows purporting to show “real” gay people whose lives were miserable) and clears them away with a smile.

Takemiya-sensei has been leading up to this slowly, carefully and ever so gently. Itoshi Koishi (いとしこいし) is not a series of high melodrama, it is a series about two people who love and are loved in return. It shows that “coming out” may never be easy, but it does not have to be traumatic. I love this story with all my love.

This series, by this author, who combines Yuri and lesbian themes sweetly, without fantasy handwaves, is my number one Yuri manga of the year.

 

The next list will be an accounting of all the companies, the people, the places and things that have made 2019 an amazing anniversary year for Yuri!

 

 

Posted in English Manga, Top Yuri Lists, Yuri Manga | 1 Comment »


Okazu Top Yuri Anime of 2019

December 27th, 2019

Hello and welcome to the 2019 Edition of the end-of-year lists here on Okazu! <pausing for applause> As usual, I will be splitting the lists of things I consider notable, interesting, worth mentioning into three. We begin, as we always begin with anime of the year that I consider worth noting. Also as usual, I will be bending the laws of relativity around words like “anime” “year” and “worth.” ^_^ I’ll do my best to note where and/or how you can watch this series on the list. Because it is possible this year, every single series on the list is available legitimately streaming and/or with an English-language release on DVD or Blu-ray.

These are all inherently my opinion and may therefore necessarily not reflect yours. ^_^ I invite you to write your top lists in the comments! I’d love to see what you consider best of the year.

 

Honorable Mention: Devilman Crybaby

This was explicitly a 2018 series, but I did not watch it until 2019, so could not include it last year, which was a huge failure on my part. Oh well. ^_^

Devilman Crybaby is also not “Yuri” per se, but it is queer as fuck and arguably the best anime I watched all year.

So here we are, starting off with this collaboration for Go Nagai and Masaaki Yuasa in one of the finest anime I have ever seen. Devilman Crybaby is a masterwork and deserves recognition for its mastery.

Streaming on Netflix.

 

 

 

Revue Starlight

It’s not as Yuri as I’d hoped, but there’s plenty of Yuri drama in between what is largely incoherent plot points. But who needs coherence when you have songs! and fights! and a giraffe!

For Futaba and anyone not Kaoruko, for Banana and Junna and above all, for Maya and Claudine, this series definitely deserves a place here.

Streaming on HIDIVE, coming out in 2020 on “home video” as they say, from Sentai Filmworks.

 

 

Steven Universe

I know and you know that this is not anime. It is, however so *deeply* inspired by anime that I hope I don’t even need to mention that it’s a child of Revolutionary Girl Utena, it’s just that obvious.

It tells us deeply difficult stories in a way that actually address all of the problematic bits, and it give us multiple queer characters seen from multiple angles. Both allies and enemies are sympathetic and unsympathetic in turn.  And it gave us so much music that gets stuck in my head. The series climax was brilliant, the movie finale was a Takarazuka tribute and “Future” gave us time to consider where we go from here. As long as there’s a Steven Universe. It’ll quite likely end up here on my Top list eventually. ^_^

Broadcast on Cartoon Network, streaming on Amazon Prime, available on DVD.

 

 

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power

Yep, also not an anime. But super duper gay, so yeah, it’s on here. It’s a little darker, a lot more complex than kid’s cartoons were in my youth, but the gay characters’ relationships are noted as such. There’ll be no segment of fandom trying to rewrite what they are told here – Netossa and Spinarella are a couple and so are Bow’s parents and that is that. I genuinely love how I am not the target audience for this series and how very obviously little kids are, without the tiresome blatant marketing + faux morality that was foisted upon cartoons I grew up with.

She-Ra and the Princess of Power is a damn fine animated series and you should at least give it a try.

Streaming on Netflix, available on DVD.

 

 

Sailor Moon Super S

Upon watching the Sailor Moon SuperS Special, one might find oneself inclined to become very gay indeed. (Also one might wonder about the ferociousness of Michiru without Haruka to keep her tempered.) For such a short special, it packs a really gay punch. And this is the first time its ever had an official English-language release!

SuperS starts off with a surprising amount of queerness, but it all gets set aside for the second of Chibi-Usa’s questionable love choices. Nonetheless, the SuperS Special makes this whole season worth existing and is the sole reason that it is on this list.

Streaming on Viz.com, available on Blu-ray from Viz Media.

 

 
 

Sailor Moon Stars

Where SuperS starts off queer, but ends back in boring old straightsville, Sailor Moon Stars starts queer and just keeps on going for a long, long while. It has the largest collection of non-cis and not-straight characters of all the seasons and Haruka and Michiru get some pretty intimate lines between them. When you remember that this is a 25 year old series for children, and you reevaluate some of their scenes, you might feel at least a little bad for those folks positive in their conviction that they were not women and not in love. Because they are so obviously, definitely two women in love any argument to the contrary seems utterly ridiculous.

For at long last, giving us the best possible version of Stars, Viz gets two thumbs up and a place in this year’s top three.

Streaming on Viz.com, available on DVD and Blu-ray Viz Media.

 

 

Kase-san and Morning Glories

It was sweet, it was charming, it was beautifully, lovingly animated. And now that it is available in English as a sub and a dub, it’s one of the best buys of the year! Yamada, who loves plants and struggles quietly with her sense of self-worth, and Kase-san, a beloved star athlete of the school, fall in love and it’s all…delightful. They have things to work through, and things they need to say out loud and things that they need to do for themselves, but they are there for each other, moving forward in life and love, together.

Their story is ongoing, but this anime can be watched as is without any explanation as a slice of two lives that are coming together as one.

Available on Blu-ray from Sentai Filmworks.

 

The Kase-san OVA has been my #1 of the year before, and I honestly expected it to be again this year, but then some things happened. First, something old and wonderful came back to us after years of being obscure.

 

Go Nagai’s The Devil Lady

A bit of a late entry, because I had no idea it had come back into circulation, but Go Nagai’s The Devil Lady, the early 2000’s ADV (now Section 23) release of Devilman Lady is….fantastically gay and deeply Yuri. It’s violent, and trashy, as all Nagai works are, and it’s full of mutating people and death and misery and sexual desire and even love.

In a year when queer horror is having the renaissance it deserves, and in Go Nagai’s 55th anniversary of his debut year, I can’t think of anything that makes me happier than to see one of my absolute favorites come back into the limelight. Fingers crossed for a license of the remastered Devilman Lady which ought to be out next year for a 20th anniversary. (And I’ve already asked Seven Seas to consider the manga which was deeply fucked up. ^_^)

Streaming on Amazon Prime.

 

When it comes to “something happened,” my number one pick of the year doubled down.

 

Bloom Into You

The first thing that happened was that – very unusually – the anime really added layers of depth to the manga and ended up being better than the source material.

With insightful voice acting in both English and Japanese, the anime took a few early volumes of the manga and made them seem far more compelling than the comic had. That’s rare in and of itself.

But what really catapulted this series into the top spot was that the home release actually fixed the problems with the broadcast/streaming animation, and added in a pile of physical extras on top of that. For once, it was really worth getting a Premium box set.

Considering that the story is chock-a-block full of typical Yuri tropes, the fact that the Bloom Into You Premium box set from Sentai Filmworks/Section 23 is so incredibly good, it is my number one Yuri anime pick of the year.

Streaming on HIDIVE, available on Blu-ray.

We didn’t have a lot of Yuri anime this year, but what we had was pretty amazing! Next up, the unbelievably difficult Yuri Manga list. (Holy cow there was a lot of good Yuri manga this year.)

Posted in English Anime, Top Yuri Lists, Yuri Anime | 4 Comments »


Yuri Anime: Sailor Moon Stars Limited Edition, Part 1, Disk 1 (English)

December 24th, 2019

While at AnimeNYC, I took the opportunity to indulge myself a bit and buy myself a few presents. The Bloom Into You Premium Box Set (for which I believe one more review is due, since I watched the dub) was the first of my early holiday gifts to self and the Sailor Moon Stars Limited Edition was the second. Viz had a lovely booth set up and I was able to get the Limited Edition Blu-Ray Combo Pack for Part 1 and Part 2 and a neat little box for them, as well as the infamously misprinted booklet (I’ve already asked for my copy of the fixed version ^_^) and a pile of fetching art cards. Additionally, the set comes with a decorative box for both halves of the season and was handed over in one of Viz’s colorful Sailor Moon tote bags, this one purple with the silhouette of Eternal Sailor Moon on one side and her locket on the other. All very satisfying.

And so, for the first time in a number of years, I sat down to watch the first six episodes of Sailor Moon Stars Part 1, Disk 1, the fifth and final season, in its first-ever official western release.

As soon as the first notes of either the OP or ED start up, I get teary. In part because they are both deeply depressing songs. ^_^ Go ahead, look at the lyrics, see what I mean.

This first disk covers the best part of the Stars season, in my opinion, as Neherenia is freed from her prison and vows revenge against the White Moon Princess. This is not theg ood part…the good part is that we spend a lot of this arc with the Senshi. First we see Hotaru  growing up (at an accelerated rate) with Michiru, Haruka and Setsuna and later, Saturn gets a non-dying role protecting Chibi-Usa. I also very much enjoy the scenes where the Outers inspire the Inners to be even better at what they do. If I had been writing the series, it is quite likely I would have spent half the arc with this kind of thing.

Sailor Moon is able to save Mamoru and the other Senshi and, by extension, the Earth, once again. With two disks to go, we will finally be getting the Three Lights/Starlights and I know that most folks are poised to finally see them. I’m fairly alone in not liking them, for reasons we will discuss when we get there.

Right now, I just want to wallow a bit at how frickin’ gay Haruka and Michiru are in these six episodes. The gloves were off, clearly, as Michiru teases the heck out of her butchy partner. I rejoiced at how touchy they are, as well. Watching this disk, it boggles the mind that anyone ever insisted that they were not lovers, or if they were, Haruka had to be a man. But then, I suppose if the *.*gaters weren’t obsessed with Star Wars or whatever, we’d be having that argument all over again today. Instead, we get to smile and nod at Michiru when she tells Haruka that she could stare like this all day as she looks at her lover. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 4 In my memory, I thought this was some of the best art in the series. I was wrong.
Story – Despite being a reprise, it was not boring. Short, sharp and some of the best character writing so far
Characters – 9 I love the interaction between the Outers and Inners.
Yuri – 9
Service – 5 someone really had a thing for upskirting Jupiter

Overall – 8

My interest in this series effectively ends here, with just a few moments sprinkled through the story, but we still will have a lot to talk about including, eventually, my thoughts about the Starlights and what exists of the plot and how to rewrite it to make sense.

Posted in English Anime, Sailor Moon, Yuri Anime | No Comments »


Yuri Light Novel – Sexiled: My Sexist Party Leader Kicked Me Out, So I Teamed Up With a Mythical Sorceress! Volume 2

December 23rd, 2019

Once upon a time there were three women who were just fucking done with the everyday sexism of the sexist society in which they lived. They had all experienced any number of ways in which they, despite the fact that they worked twice as hard and were twice as good as the men around them, were never given the credit or the benefit of the doubt and that every individual man required them to prove their worthiness to him, individually, and none of those men ever bothered to share that information with other men, so the women had to prove themselves over and over and over and over again endlessly.

Oh, sorry, I was thinking about Hillary Clinton, Elizabeth Warren and Kamala Harris. It’s just completely coincidental that the exact same story also applies to Tanya, Nadine and Laplace, the protagonists of Sexiled: My Sexist Party Leader Kicked Me Out, So I Teamed Up With a Mythical Sorceress! Volume 2.

Tanya, Laplace and Nadine, known collectively as Lillium, are the most powerful party in all of Pajan. They are nonetheless subject to the systemic misogyny of life in Ode. Overpowered as they are, it doesn’t concern them much other than as a thorn in their shoe, endlessly pricking and wasting their time and energy.

When they are approached by the Princess, they are provided an opportunity to right an old wrong, and change things from the top down. To do that, Laplace must confront her own past and the man who raised her to be a powerful weapon – the Court Mage, Maxwell…her father.

I knew I was going to like this volume when I read this tweet, by translator Molly Lee:

And I did like it. For one thing, the main part of the plot delved into Laplace’s backstory, and it addresses the one real weakness of the first volume, Laplace’s tendency to kiss Tanya without her explicit consent. Although it does explain why, I wish it had emphasized a little more that it’s not right…even if Tanya ultimately doesn’t mind.

Maxwell turns out to be a distilled essence of all the mediocre men ever and it was deeply satisfying to see him defeated, but that was probably one of the least important things that happened in the novel. Lilium giving hope – and opportunity – to the people of Ode and greater O’toyok area are far more powerful. Two of the most important things to occur are the gelling of Tanya and Laplace’s relationship into something more mutual and permanent and the final moment when Tanya meets a young man who was motivated by Lilium to follow his dream. His sincere thanks changes Tanya’s perspective on her work and opens her eyes to the fact that they are providing an example and a way for anyone.

Ultimately, the fight scenes and even more the scenes where Laplace transforms her prison into a luxury suite, are icing on a revenge narrative cake.

The weakest bit, in my opinion, is the fact that Maxwell has specifically been manipulating the laws in Pajan in order to make women’s lives miserable because as a mediocre man, he wanted endless revenge on women. It would be nice if we could sweep away misogyny by removing one misogynist from power, but real life is not that simple.

I will part here from my respected peers Yurimother and Sean Gaffney, when it comes to the art. They both found Kazutomo Miya’s illustrations to be a weakness, while I very much liked them and significantly preferred it to the art of the first volume, which I found created a sense of severe dissonance between the characters as described and seen. The art here is less finished which never bothers me – I quite like pencil or pen sketches – but far more importantly, it reflects the actual characters as described in the text.  It drives me crazy when art and text are at odds.

In some ways this story was so on the money, especially the scene about Nadine’s glasses and the court’s insistence on heels, just as the #KuToo and no glasses for women controversies landed in real-world Japan, that it felt a little too current. As it turns out these were just coincidences of ghastly real-world misogyny. Whee.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 10
Characters – 10
Service – 7 With actual intent. On purpose.
Yuri – 8

Overall – 10

There are any number of things seeded into the text upon which a third novel could be built and I’ve already let Kaeruda-sensei know that it’s selfish of me, but I really want a Volume 3. ^_^

 

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Yuri Light Novel: Bloom Into You Regarding Saeki Sayaka, Volume 1 (English)

December 22nd, 2019

When you watched the Bloom Into You anime, you saw it. Maybe you understood it. Probably if you were queer, you had lived it.

You saw the way Sayaka held her coffee cup, the way her fingers tightened around it before she asked what was clearly one of the most difficult questions of her entire life to date, “Are you and Hakozaki-sensei dating?” You saw it and maybe if you’re queer, you knew what it felt like on a visceral level. The first time you said the thing. You probably knew the tightness in your muscles when you first saw someone looking at you and understood that they were looking at you that same way that you were looking at them. That you had something in common. The thing.

This is why it was so important to me that Bloom Into You: Regarding Saeki Sayaka, Volume 1 captures Sayaka’s inner voice so well. Not because I identified with her (although we are all her, in some way,) but because of this.

As I read the first of what I hope will be three novels, this was the moment when I knew I why her voice was so important:

As my senses sharpened, the path ahead grew brighter and clearer. My defenseless heart was exposed to the picturesque sunlight. And as I observed my current self neutrally as if from the outside, I finally realized something.

I was angry.

Right now, I was incensed. But why? I plumbed the depths of my heart for the answer.

Sayaka has spent the first 14 years as a spectator in her own life. This is the moment when she ceases to observe and begins to participate.

In this volume, we learn about Saeki Sayaka from two key moments in her life. The first part of the novel follows 11 year old Sayaka’s encounters with a girl her own age who, we can see from our distance, is in love with – or more probably correctly, desires – her. Sayaka has a bit of a sense of it, but it’s not until she experiences desire that it make sense to her. The second half of the book follows her when she is approached by someone who claims to love her, who she comes to love and who, ultimately, hurts her. And when she begins to understand herself, finally.

Saeki Sayaka and I differ in one very concrete way. I read a lot of fiction as a child. This is not an aside, or an irrelevant comment. Sayaka guesses at and correctly identifies her emotions as she experiences them. Had she read fiction, she would not have needed to guess. ^_^ But we know, because we are told it, that she doesn’t care for fiction. It is a testament to the author’s grasp of Sayaka’s voice, that we can be inside her head as she objectively discusses the range of emotions she’s experiencing. It was so wholly consistent with what we knew of her, I had to be impressed. As I’ve said in previous reviews, I consider Iruma’s writing inconsistent and wasn’t sure that the Sayaka we knew would be reflected here. When I reviewed the Japanese edition, I was happy to note that it was.

I’m even more pleased to report that the translation, by Jan Cash and Vincent Castaneda, with adaptation by Jenny McKeon, and editing by Nibedita Sen and Jenn Grunigen, preserved that voice in the English edition. (I’m also chuffed as heck to see my friend Julie Davis as Managing Editor on this volume! For one thing that means that Seven Seas has gotten to the point of size, volume and sophistication as a publishing company to be hiring managing editors which is a very good thing.) I trust this team to do the best possible job with a character I actually want taken care of. ^_^

Their hard work means I don’t have to spend my energy making the novel work and can instead spend my energy resenting Yuzuki-sempai and enjoying Sayaka watching herself swear to never fall in love again, then almost immediately fall in love with Nanami Touko. ^_^

Which is how it should be.

Ratings (same as the Japanese volume):

Art – 10 well, since the creator of the original did the illustrations, that stands to reason
Story – 8 In and of itself, not riveting, but it nails the character’s voice.
Character – 10
Service – 3 bathing suits and changing rooms
Yuri – Well, now…this is hard. I’m calling it a 5 because it’s so complicated

Overall – 9

For the interior life of a young lesbian, told in a way that is completely consistent with the character as we know her, Bloom Into You: Regarding Saeki Sayaka, Volume 1 is a very good book.

Thanks to Seven Seas for the advanced review copy!

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